I have researched this topic, and I know this from personal experience. Here is my 2 cents.
Everyone knows about iPods... Everyone has one. I have had 4 over the years. Yes. 4. Do you know why? It was the exact same problem each time! ONE OF THE EARS "BROKE." I mean, no sound played at all through that side.
It starts with static, and eventually you can only hear from one ear. Happened three times to me. Turns out I'm not the only one. Google searches bring up... questionable data...
Various iPod models: failure of right earbud/earphone (#2) - MacFixIt
This was a great link.
Here are some reports:
Kevin Barre writes:
"I absolutely have had the problem show up with my 8-year-old son's 1st generation Shuffle other than a dead right headphone. Until I read this story I had assumed that he had just blown the speaker, which is really silly, since I have always limited the volume on his Shuffle since the first day I gave it to him."
Dave O'Connor writes:
"It happened to me too, I use custom in ear headphones so it isn't the volume. I am currently on my second set and the right ear is going on these now. Thought I was losing my mind."'
Anyse Joslin writes:
"In my third generation 40G iPod, my original earplugs died in a few months (right earplug). After that, I bought the upgraded, fit in your ear, headphones and the right one died a few months later. So, I bought a third one and it is still working today and it is the regular style headphone that normally comes with the older iPod."
An anonymous reader writes:
"The earbud problem confused me. I bought a set of Shure E2C earbuds because they sound great, and the cord is much thicker than all the other brands I tried. I have had 2 pairs fail on me, both losing sound on one side: the right side, with the same symptoms. I thought I was going deaf. I have both pairs stripped down to the TINY wires to somehow make them work again"
Look at all this, and more. Does this seem like something normal? What is causing this? Lets look at a bit more evidence.
5G 60GB iPod destroys right earphone - iPod - iPhone - iTunes Forums at iLounge
That is a link to an ipod specific forum. If you take a quick glance through it, you find a number of suspicious items.
I got a 60gb Black 5g for christmas. the stock earphones it came with worked good for a bit and then the right one did blow. this is amazing...i diddnt think anything of it but now that i see this, i hope the new ones i bought dont go to #####...
Wow, I thought i'm the only one with this problem. My iPod is 5G 30gb, same problem occurs with my right earbud!!!
(the weird part is the left side seems to work just fine)
Same thing happened to me with my old 4G, the SOB killed 4 pairs of headphones. One being the stocks, 2 being the apple in-ear, and the latter being the sony ex71sl. I hope this isnt an issue with my new 5G 60gb, its a real pain in the butt.
Those are all quotes from that forum. This last quote intrigued me the most, though.
yup. same thing happened here. luckily i had an old shuffle that the buds didn't get busted up and those are ok now but i want to know how would i go about contacting apple about this. i tried going to apple.com and clicking contact us but all i got was a bunch of stuff trying to get you to avoid emailing them.
So, Apple is trying to get you to avoid emailing them? No information is available on the Apple site about this problem, I would know, I checked. So what do I think is the issue?
Apple designs the iPods to break!
The only explanation. Apple is such a greedy, faggoted company, that they design their iPods to break your headphones.
Still don't believe me? Lets take a look at their warranty plan.
Here is a detailed PDF of what I am talking about.
"How long is my iPod covered by Apple's warranty?
Your iPod is covered for one year by Apple's Limited Warranty for iPod. Warranty service for eligible repairs is available at no charge for twelve months from the date of original retail purchase ("date of purchase"). A $29.95 shipping and handling fee will apply to all warranty repairs performed 180 days after date of purchase. If you have purchased an AppleCare Protection Plan for iPod ("APP for iPod"), there will be no shipping and handling fee."
Read that. You get 12 months free with it. That seems reasonable. In fact, that seems NICE, almost. Well, what if you want more than 12 months. Then, you must buy the AppleCare Protection Plan. It is 60 dollars for an additional 2 years of support. Ok, that's fine and dandy. Well, I asked a representative at the store what happens after the 3 years are up. He said that you cannot get a warranty then.
Ok, so you have 3 years of use under warranty. After those 3 years, if something goes wrong, you're fucked. It made many have to buy new ipods, as they couldn't get them under warranty.
Now, lets piece together this puzzle. iPods break easily and its uncanny how common this single issue has become. Apple does not offer a warranty past 3 years...
Starting to see it? Apple KNOWINGLY put hardware that would break in their iPods!!! Otherwise, how would they make money? Some people's iPods would break, but with Apple, they need to buy a new one every 3 years! An even more ingenious part is how they get people to buy songs off of iTunes! You can only use these on iTunes, and iTunes is only compatible with iPods. Therefore, if people who bought music off of iTunes do not get an iPod, then they cannot listen! Apple is FORCING PEOPLE TO BUY NEW IPODS!!
I am being serious about this. We have a family friend who works in consumer fraud. I am reporting this incident to her, and hopefully we will be able to sue, or at least reveal something about Apple in public.
I hope you understand.
Discuss.
